


Where Ghosts Walk

by Ahhuya



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Drama, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-11-30 10:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11462190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahhuya/pseuds/Ahhuya
Summary: Spartos wished to have an easy life after the death of his brother, but things are never meant to go the way he wants. When an old classmate asks him a favor to help her brother out, who is Spartos to refuse?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started this fic because I wanted to write a ghost AU, give my personal (rarepair) ships more attention and bring more love for the student/teacher bond of Spartos and Hakuryuu. So here's a fic with all that.
> 
> I have no idea how long it will be though... or how often I can update...

The life of Spartos Leoxses could be seen as abnormal by most people. When he was eleven, his brother Mystras had died in an apartment fire. His father had thrown the full blame of it on Mystras himself, which Spartos knew now, had been reasonable. The frying pan had caught fire when the young student had fallen asleep on the cough after a night out. Sinbad and Ja’far, who had been there with him had been able to get out, still carried the guilt of being unable to help their friend out.  For Spartos the first few months had been the hardest. He couldn’t see his brother when his death had been confirmed. The coffin had stayed closed until the very end. It was for the best, there wasn’t much left of his brother anyways.  Even if Mystras’ body had already been burned so badly, his father had decided on burying him instead of a cremation. Even now that idea could still bring Spartos some joy. Spartos still hated that memory though. When he had to watch as the dark, black coffin was lowered into the ground and as dirt was thrown on its lid when the family members and friends moved on again. The next few months, Spartos had refused to go to school, only going because his father demanded it. He had gotten used to the daily slur and emptiness, getting into a prestigious secondary school. He could even follow his father’s wishes to get into university with straight A’s, entering his Theology Master’s program of Spiritual Care without any problem.

Now at the age of 22, Spartos could see the end of his academic study in sight. The thought of having to find a job wasn’t the worst. At least it was a way to fill his life. He could start helping people, different than donating to the number of charities that would cross his door. He sighed softly as he looked at the books in front of him, the lines starting to dance around his vision as he realized it was past six already.

“You should go home, you still have to cook dinner.” He heard the voice of his brother next to him as he could see a bright white hand on his shoulder.

“I guess you’re right… I can continue this later tonight.” Spartos sighed as he shoved his chair back and packed his books and laptop. The light figure followed him, passing through tables as he moved. Indeed Spartos Leoxses was being haunted by his older brother.

It had started as a soft voice in the back of his head that would tell him the right answer on tests. At least until he had passed the first three years and the answers in his head were more to be doubted than trusted. Spartos talked about it with his father, who brushed it aside as the voices of demons wanting to play with him, bring him off his path and that he should never listen to the voices again. He stopped mentioning the voice then, even if it sounded so much like his brother. Spartos had tried to ignore it, believing his father’s words that the devil was playing with his mind. He couldn’t have expected that it would cause physical manifestation in the end. Every _“Spartos~”_ and _“are you ignoring me? I thought you liked me…~”_ became louder and unbearable until in the end the full figure of Mystras had stood in front of him. At first Spartos couldn’t understand it. Mystras had been dead for at least four years back then. Yet here he was, standing in front of him as if nothing was wrong. He had the same idiotic smile on his face as the day Spartos had seen him leave their house for the last time. The only difference was that this figure of his brother was bright white and transparent. Spartos had tried to exorcise his brother in that moment, afraid that he was really a demon. Mystras had only laughed at him. It took at least a few months before Spartos was used to seeing his brother next to his side. He couldn’t tell his father, instead the two brothers found enough support in each other with this situation.

When he returned to his small apartment, Spartos threw his bag on the bed before going to the kitchen. He could have sworn he had only been in the library for three hours when class had ended, not the five he found himself lost staring at the pages of his book. Then again, the constant talking of his brother next to him didn’t help with concentrating.

The freezer still contained the leftovers of the weekend’s pasta, which in Spartos’ opinion were good enough for the day. In that way he had found himself becoming more like Mystras. Which was the exact reason that he wouldn’t buy a frying pan for himself.

The pasta was done in a few minutes. Exhausted from the earlier studying, Spartos put the plate down on the table and sat down. With his head lowered and his eyes closed he started to recite his daily prayer.

“Amen.” Spartos lifted his head again as he picked up his fork to start dinner.

“You know,” Mystras said as he had found a spot on Spartos’ bed, “I still don’t get why you do that. You moved out four years ago, I thought you would quit that stupid habit.”

Laying his fork down again, Spartos sighed, “It’s not a habit, I’m just following the church.”

“You should have left the church like I did.” Mystras sat up, grinning softly.

“If I remember right, you never left the church when you moved out.” Spartos said as he finally took the first bite from his food. It didn’t have enough flavor, he noticed, a mistake he kept on making with his food.

“I died, that’s a good enough reason to leave if you ask me.” Spartos could see Mystras shrug his shoulders from the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but to let out a soft laugh.

“Father blessed your soul though, so you better join me the next time we’re having dinner.” Spartos quickly added to that.

“Of course he did…” Mystras groaned as he fell down on the mattress again, “but I don’t need food, so I’m never joining you with that stupid stuff.”

“And yet you stay around when I’m studying…” Spartos shook his head and focused on his food instead.

“Well yeah that’s different.” Mystras rolled around on the bed until he fell off, no thud to be heard.

A grin appeared on Spartos’ face “Last time I checked, I got a bachelor’s degree in theology and I’m supposed to have a master in it next year.”

“Still different.” Sounded a soft mumble and Spartos know he wasn’t going to win.

Even if the pasta was bland, it was good enough for the night.  Mystras was still lazing around the bed when Spartos took a shower and still didn’t get up when he read through another few pages of his book. It was still the same daily slur that he had started to fall in when he was twelve and by now Spartos doubted it was going to change again. At least his brother was still with him this time.


	2. Chapter 2

Saturday always came too soon or too late. Never was there a perfect timing for the day. This time, it was a late Saturday. Even if most of the days ended up in one blur, it had been a long week of going to class, study and going to bed. Saturday, along with Sunday, were the two days where Spartos could enjoy himself. At least for this week.

‘ _Visitor’s entry_ ’ was written clearly on the door he had found himself in front of. He smiled softly as he pushed it open and stepped into the lobby. The white walls, decorated with green and yellow panels never failed to impress the student.

“How can I help you?” The woman behind the service desk asked him after she had ended the call that had kept her busy before. “Oh it’s you. Here to meet with mister Ja’far again?”

Spartos nodded, “It’s that time of the year again.”

“How could I forget.” The woman laughed and took the phone in her hand again. “I’ll give him a call that you’re here. You know the way to his office, right?”

Spartos nodded again as he passed through the big sliding doors next to the desk. That time of the year, it only meant that Mystras was dead for eleven years now.

“They made it look better than I expected. I thought Sinbad was going to ruin the new color scheme.” Mystras laughed from beside him, looking at the walls as they walked through the building.

“You have been here before already and Ja’far had the final say in the colors.” Spartos sighed, ignoring his brother’s talking.

“That’s true. I tend to forget how successful those two became.”

“Richest couple in the city.” Spartos shrugged his shoulder as he found the door to Ja’far office. A knock on the door was answered with ‘yeah’, giving Spartos enough assurance to enter.

The man inside didn’t look up when the door was opened. Instead, he only waved and turned back to his paperwork.

“I’ll be done in one minute.” A stack of papers fell down from the desk, spreading across the floor, “Make that five.”

“Busy as always, aren’t you.” Spartos laughed as he crouched down to collect the fallen papers.

“It’s the normal stuff. Business is blooming around this time.” Ja’far replied, not looking up from the papers before him. “That guy doesn’t do anything either.”

“Sinbad?” Spartos asked, tilting his head as he placed the stack back on the desk again.

“No Sinbad does things when you ask him to. I’m talking about that guy.” Ja’far’s hand pointed into an empty space of the office. Something lit up until a full figure had formed. It was a man, probably somewhere in his twenties who seemed to try and work out some papers. He seemed familiar to Spartos, although he couldn’t figure out who he was.

“Stupid Vittel over there,” Ja’far still pointed at the man in the corner, who shrunk down the moment his name was mentioned, “died a few months ago as he tripped in the warehouse. Now he has decided to continue working, except that he doesn’t realize THAT PAPERS FALL THROUGH HIS HANDS!”

A soft whimper could be heard in the room while Mystras bursted out in laughter.

“Sounds like an idiot.” He snorted, looking at the dead accountant.

“Shut up mister _‘let’s go eat croquettes at 4am while we’re drunk because that won’t go wrong at all’_.” Ja’far groaned as he nearly snapped his pen in two.

“I’ll go to the cafeteria and let you finish the work before Mystras will join in on making a mess here.” Spartos smiled softly and turned back to the door. He glanced at his brother to make sure he was still following him. He could see the other ghost, Vittel, coming with him. One with the ability for double possession… Spartos never saw those around that often. It wasn’t that hard to see a ghost if you knew that you had to look for one. That was if the ghost wanted to be seen. It was harder however to have a ghost follow you. Mystras never seemed to have showed interest in the double possession. Then again, he had no one else to possess than Spartos. Ja’far had forbidden Mystras from it, Sinbad wasn’t capable of seeing anything, Darius was ‘no fun’ and anyone near Mystras’ old girlfriend had become off limits. That last part was mostly Spartos’ choice. Spartos enjoyed being around Pipirika’s older brother and his wife’s ghost. The main problem was just Pipirika, who had gotten a bad relationship with the young Leoxses when her boyfriend had passed away. Ja’far and Sinbad, as old friends had been able to take Spartos in their group, helping him out with getting over his brother’s death (and with the possession when it started).

“How long have you been in the ghost thing?” Vittel asked Mystras while following Spartos around the halls.

“Around ten years now. It’s nothing special.” Mystras shrugged.

“Long enough to become normal.” Spartos walked into the cafeteria. The place had the same aesthetic as the rest of the building. White walls with gold and green panels, along with a dark green, stone floor. It wasn’t the most beautiful cafeteria, but the wall was covered in coffee mugs, a coffee machine placed along the side to fuel any tired worker.

When he had been younger, Spartos never understood why people liked coffee that much. His father seemed to live of tea and so did anyone who had come to visit their house. At the church there would be the option to drink coffee, an opportunity most townspeople couldn’t resist. The moment Spartos had gotten into university and started making longer days, eventually working through entire nights, he had understood the importance of coffee. It was only normal that a big company as this was running on it. And if anyone was living of it, it had to be Ja’far.

Getting his usual coffee, Spartos sat down at a table in the middle of the room. The two ghosts that accompanied him stayed at his side.

“So… Vittel right?” Spartos focused on the young ghost who darted around the place. The man nodded as he finally found a place next to Mystras at the table. “Have you always been close to Ja’far? It’s not every day you see someone haunt their employer.”

“Mister Sinbad got me of the streets by offering me a job here and it was mister Ja’far who taught me a lot here. I had no one else to haunt and I felt like I couldn’t move on just yet. I like it here.”

“To think someone other than Sinbad would want to stay around Ja’far every day.” Mystras laughed as he looked at the dead accountant.

“Ja’far isn’t a bad person,” Spartos sighed, “he just tends to go all out for his job.”

“Almost makes me glad I never got to work with him.” Mystras shrugged his shoulders.

“I doubt you’re honest there. You and Ja’far seemed to be good at working together.”

“I was more into working with Sinbad.” Spartos laughed softly at the answer. He knew his brother had been closer to Sinbad when they had classes together. Still, when he had first brought Mystras to meet the couple again, Ja’far had shown a side Spartos had never seen. The man who always came of as stern and serious, had grown softer at the sight of his old friend. Perhaps they wouldn’t be the best partners with work, but Spartos knew that a job under Sinbad and Ja’far would have been far from the worst future for Mystras.

Spartos looked up when he heard Ja’far enter the room. The man silently got himself a cup of coffee before he sat down in front of Spartos.

“Got everything done?” Spartos asked.

“Enough to take a break for now. We have a lot of orders going out around this time, I need to make sure we’re not running out of stock.” Ja’far sighed, taking a sip from his coffee.

“You should probably try taking a break more often. You seem exhausted.” Spartos suggested, watching as the man shook his head.

“I thought you’d know by now that I don’t like taking breaks. Sin is already trying to get me to stop working before midnight.”

“He probably wants to make sure you’re not going to kill yourself with these habits.” Spartos said.

“Or does he want to have more intimate nights with you?” Mystras laughed.

Ja’far glared the ghost. “We are fine the way we are, right now. It’s what you get for running a big company. And I won’t die, Sin probably wouldn’t be able to handle being surrounded by even more ghosts that he’s unable to see.”

“You mean like the one time his ex tried to haunt him?” Mystras raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but couldn’t help but smile.

“Serendine? Yes…” Ja’far nodded, his expression hardened when he thought about the woman. “Luckily she realized it wasn’t worth it and left to find someone else instead. I heard she settled with Drakon eventually.”

“Drakon used to like her, I’m sure he and Saher don’t mind having her around.” Mystras confirmed.

The soft buzzing of his phone in his pocket dragged Spartos out of the conversation. He knew it had been stupid to take a look at the message when there were two guys floating behind him. Even if his brother had been deeply engaged in the conversation with Ja’far, he would easily be pulled out when it concerned sudden messages on Spartos’ phone.

“Who’s that?” Mystras asked as he leaned closer to take a look at the profile picture.

“Hakuei.” Spartos simply replied as he read through the message.

“A girl who is interested in you?” Vittel joined in, pushing Mystras out of the way to get a look at the phone as well.

“I doubt it.” Spartos locked his phone, making the message disappear on the black screen again.

“Come on, you’re a nice guy, surely she could fall for you.” The redhead could feel the poking of an nonexistent arm in his side.

“Vittel,” Spartos sighed as he side eyed the ghost, “she’s a lesbian.”

Vittel shrugged his shoulders, “You could dress up as a girl.”

“Sinbad did that once.” Ja’far mentioned while said man entered the room.

“It was a drag show, I don’t know what you’d expect.” The man pouted as he grabbed himself a cup of coffee and sat down with the others.

“With you there isn’t much to expect.”

“And yet you love me.” Sinbad grinned as he leaned closer to the white haired man to kiss him.

“Somehow.” The man laughed softly.

“So how are you doing?” Sinbad stopped his playing around and turned to Spartos instead. “It has been twelve years now… Do you still miss your brother as much as you used to?”

Spartos couldn’t help but to eye at Mystras who had bursted out in laughter when Sinbad still couldn’t notice him. “Sometimes it feels like he never died.”

“Almost like Vittel, you know.” Ja’far grinned at Sinbad while the mentioned ghost him himself behind a chair, “papers start falling more often, almost as if he’s still here.”

“That’s true.” Sinbad chuckled, “He and Mystras would probably have destroyed our business by now.”

“You have so much trust in my brother…” Spartos replied as he tried to ignore Mystras’ whining from behind him.

“Judging by how he died, we have all reason not to trust him.” Ja’far shook his head as he got up to grab himself a new cup of coffee.

Mystras murmured softly as he leaned over the back of Spartos’ chair. “At least I didn’t die when I tripped.” Vittel, who had already hidden himself from most eyes, now really disappeared from sight. 

“I guess you’re right with that. Even if he would have loved to work with you guys.” Spartos said.

Sinbad nodded slightly, his earlier, happy expression slowly fading, “That was the original plan. He could have been a part of it if he had stayed alive for the rest of the time.”

“Then again,” Ja’far added, “we wouldn’t have gotten to this point if his death hadn’t inspired us.”

“At least one good thing came from it then.” Spartos laughed.

“Speaking of that… You still only visit when Pipirika is away on vacation, don’t you?” Ja’far noted.

“You guys never made up?” Sinbad frowned.

Spartos shook his head, “Last time I met her, she said I didn’t need an academic degree to sell lies.”

Sinbad whistled softly, unable to keep a smile to himself. “I have to say she’s great at finding new insults every time.”

A poke in his side with Ja’far’s elbow was the only right response for it. “I know I can’t tell her what to do, but she shouldn’t attack you for these things.”

“You get used to it after all those years.” Spartos shrugged, taking another sip from his coffee. When he was still a teen, he had been easily affected by the older woman’s comments towards him. Spartos couldn’t even remember why she had become like that. He had only wanted to mourn his older brother, but the girl who called herself his girlfriend had tried to drag any of that sorrow to herself. Now it didn’t matter anymore. After all the years, Pipirika hadn’t started to become reasonable and Spartos had long given up on trying to make up with her. Mystras had tried to help in the beginning by haunting the woman’s dreams when he hadn’t become fully visible yet. He had stopped it when he noticed that his hauntings only made it worse. She would come back more often, tell the young Spartos that Mystras coming to _her_ dreams meant that she was right. She would stop when her older brother Hinahoho showed up. The single dad was the only person in that situation who the girl would listen to even if she didn’t want to.

“She was very attached to Mystras and no doubt has some abandonment issues.” Sinbad laughed softly, “But she’s does a great job at the office.”

“Probably the only one who can work with some standards.” Ja’far added on that, but still shook his head at the thought of Pipirika.

“I’d still love to see you more often at the parties, you know. I’m sure that with how university is going, you could use a good drink to forget everything.”

“I don’t drink,” Spartos quickly replied, waving the idea of a party away, “It’s not a thing for my religion and after what happened to my brother…” He closed his eyes before looking back at his brother, “I don’t want to make the same mistakes he did.”

“Still staying as far away from a frying pan as always?” Sinbad laughed, “Well I can’t blame you. It’s better than grabbing even more alcohol to forget things.”

“And that is a thing you should start working on.” Ja’far noted.

“You guys never change do you?” Spartos couldn’t help but to smile around the two men. They seemed to be fighting to no end, but Spartos had hung out with them long enough to know that this was purely their behavior during work. Any time he had gone to their home further outside the city, Ja’far was more relaxed and open with Sinbad’s behavior. Although the infinite use of alcohol never got excused.

Spartos could always be at ease around them. As friends of his brother’s, the two had easily found their way to Spartos’ heart. In the end they had become the people who Spartos could trust with his personal problems. His own father’s wasn’t any good for that and his brother was too young to be involved in anything. On the other hand were his friends who he had met during the introduction week almost four years ago. Still Spartos preferred to only hear their complaints instead of letting out his own.

**…**

Spending time with Sinbad and Ja’far was fun, but always, the time he had with them was over too soon. Ja’far left after his fifth cup of coffee, complaining he had more work to do. Sinbad had stayed a little bit longer, saying he had nothing else to do for the night. Behind him he heart Vittel say that there were still three stacks of paperwork left to do. In the end, Sinbad too left again and Vittel, after telling Spartos and Mystras a hundred times that meeting another ghost was the best thing that had happened to him, went back to Ja’far’s office to ‘help out’.

As Spartos sat in the bus back to his apartment, he remembered he had gotten a text from Hakuei. He could feel the embarrassment coming up as he saw he had ignored it for more than two hours already.

> Hi Spartos. I got your number from Kouen, I hope you don’t mind. I don’t know if you still remember me, but we were in religion and media together last year. I wanted to know if you’d be willing to help my brother out with something. –Hakuei

Spartos smiled softly at the text. Of course he hadn’t forgotten her. She had been one of the only people who had truly been interested in the religion and media class and truly the only one who had talked to him that day. He wondered if she had forgotten about the few parties where he had seen her. Then again, perhaps she didn’t know Pisti was extremely talkative about anything she had seen people do at such events.

> Hello Hakuei. Sorry I didn’t reply sooner, I was busy. What do you need help with?

He didn’t have to wait long before his phone buzzed again in his hand.

> It's okay. Can I call you? It’s easier to talk that way.
> 
> I don’t mind. I still have some time before I get home though, so if you want it to stay more private, you can call later as well.

Apparently it couldn’t wait as soon he saw the incoming call from her number.

“Good afternoon.” Spartos picked up the call.

“Hi,” Hakuei’s soft voice came through from the other side, “I’m sorry for texting you all of a sudden.”

“It’s okay, what can I do for you?”

He could hear her sigh and tapping her nails against either a table or desk “Do you know my brother?”

“Only about the few times you talked about him.” Spartos replied.

“Well… he hasn’t been doing well in school. He’s a smart child but he doesn’t seem to be able to get anything done. I thought…” she sighed again, “maybe you could teach him. I heard from Kouen that you’re good at explaining things. Hakuryuu doesn’t need a lot of help, I’m sure. I just want to be sure that if he can’t figure something out, he has someone to fall back to.”

“You want me to tutor your brother? I’m not sure if I have time… you know my internment and thesis are coming up soon.”

“I know, I was stupid to ask you.”

“No that’s not it,” Spartos said quickly, “if it’s just to study together then it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I mean… I can try it and see if it works out.”

“Really?” He could hear Hakuei’s voice going up a little, “Thank you, Spartos. You’re amazing. I’ll send you his number, he already agreed on having you help him out.”

“That sounds good. I’ll see what I can do.”

“that’s more than enough for me. Thanks again. Bye, Spartos.”

“I’ll talk to you later.” He answered before the call ended. He watched as a new message popped up on his screen.

> Here’s Hakuryuu’s number. He’s available most of the time but Im sure you two can figure something out

At this moment, Spartos wondered why he ever agreed on doing this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clear it up, Sinbad and Ja'far married after finishing uni and started Sindria.com, a webshop. They're one of the many background pairings that will be going on this fic.


	3. Chapter 3

When he saw the boy, he knew immediately that he was Hakuei’s younger brother. Not many in Csetiphon had dark blue hair like that and the similar birthmark on his chin gave it away too easily. One thing Spartos noticed was the scar running across the boy’s face. It looked painful, even though the tissue seemed to have healed a long time ago. Spartos decided not to ask about it. It wasn’t what he was here for. He had texted Hakuryuu the morning after he had gotten Hakuei’s message. The boy seemed nice and polite in his texts and had agreed on trying to meet Spartos after class on Monday. Now it was just a bit after 3pm when Spartos had found himself in the university cafeteria. There weren’t a lot of people around, lunchtime being long over and the library being a better place to study.

Spartos waved at the boy, telling him to come closer and sit with him.

“You’re Hakuryuu, right?” He asked the boy. He nodded.

“My sister told me about you.” Hakuryuu said as he sat down and leaned his arms on the table. “You don’t really have to help me, you know. I’m fine on my own.”

“Your sister seemed pretty worried yesterday. I don’t think she believes you’ll be fine.” Spartos replied.

“So what do you want to do? Teach me everything. Did you even take biology when you were my age?” The boy sighed, his eyes slowly falling shut.

Spartos laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t and I’m sure I wouldn’t remember a lot of it by now. But I have a friend who is studying it, in case you need to know anything I can ask him.” He placed his hands back on the table, his smile disappearing in a serious look. “I was more thinking about studying together. Sometimes a different environment can help some. The library works for me.”

Hakuryuu sighed again, “Fine, if that’s what you think is right.”

Spartos laughed softly and nodded. “We can at least try it for a week. If it’s not a thing for you then that’s fine.”

Hakuryuu nodded again. Perhaps, Spartos thought, this adventure could end sooner than he wanted.

**…**

They decided to move from the cafeteria to the library after they had a bit more familiar with each other. Getting to the library was already a task on its own. Seeing that Hakuryuu wasn’t enrolled into the Csetiphon university, or any university on that part, Spartos had to make sure they could get an entry pass to the building to begin with.  It cost some money, something Spartos didn’t tell Hakuryuu, after all there was enough money left given by his own family. Even if his father wouldn’t like it, he had a good reason and his father was far away and unable to do anything.

Mystras wasn’t a help either. He laughed softly at the sight of Spartos dealing with the library assistant, who after three explanations, still didn’t notice that he was trying to get a pass for younger male.

“You know you could have just tried going to the public library.” Mystras said as he followed the two through the hallways to the nearest available study hall.

“I needed some books from here and it’s still the best place to study in piece.” Spartos sighed.  Mystras was right that the public library wasn’t a bad place to meet up at, but there wasn’t the true studying vibe that Spartos enjoyed so much.

From the first day he had moved to the city of Csetiphon, Spartos had found his home in the university’s library. Already back in Vabel, the library had been a place to find some peace of mind, especially when Mystras was no longer around to drag him out of the clutches of his father. The library of Vabel, although a big building, only contained a few books that weren’t filled with deeply biased writing. Csetiphon on the other hand had much more. Books about a thousand different subjects on religion only. Along with that, a new world of different studies had opened up to him. No longer had he been surrounded by the books his father had been giving him time after time. Still Spartos had never been able to read through everything and most of the knowledge he had gotten about things had been from his friends’ complaints about it, although Spartos wasn’t sure what to do with Sharrkan’s rants about immunobiology and ecology.  

Sharrkan’s immense monologues about the effect of poison on blood weren’t needed today, anyways. At the moment that they had found a secluded space in the library and Spartos laid his books and laptop across the table, the two had worked on their own pace. Like normal for Spartos, time flew by without realizing. Hakuryuu hadn’t said much in those hours, only asking for a short explanation on certain questions, to which Spartos would try to find the answer.

Seeing that it was late in the afternoon already, shouldn’t have been a surprise to Spartos and it wasn’t exactly that what surprised him. The surprise was mostly that _he_ had been the one to figure out how late it was. Instead of Mystras flying around his head several times, screaming about how badly he wanted to go home already. Spartos realized he hadn’t seen Mystras around the moment he had started to study… perhaps he finally learned about the peace Spartos liked to have after all those years. 

“I guess we should go home.” Spartos said as he closed his laptop and looked at Hakuryuu who was still working, “It’s getting late and I’m sure your family isn’t waiting for you to come home late.”

Hakuryuu didn’t answer, just grabbed his books, stood up and walked away.

“That was smooth.” There it was again, Mystras voice making comments that Spartos had no trouble with filling in himself.

“He doesn’t seem like the most socializing kid. I think I would have acted the same if I still was his age.” Spartos shrugged.

“Then again, you were always a social disaster until you moved out.” Mystras added. 

Spartos laughed softly and nodded. Moving out and going to the Parthevian province had done him well. At least it had gotten him more people to talk to and opportunities for a future outside his father’s church.

Before he left the library, he noticed the unread message on his phone.

> We’re meeting at the lion this evening. You coming?

**…**

Spartos had never been the type to go out on a Monday evening, but when it involved his friends he could never find the strength to refuse an invitation. _The Red Lion_ , or _the lion_ as most people would call it, was a fairly old bar in the middle of  the city. No one knew when the bar had been founded or who the owner was exactly. Well… it was clear who the owner was. The only person working at the bar was Yunan, a blond man who seemed to forget which year it was all too often, but that was all anyone knew of him. Where he was from or what he did before the bar had opened, no one knew.

In one way it didn’t matter who Yunan was. As Sharrkan always said, he had the best drinks in town and that was all that counted. Spartos was the last to join his group of friends there. The other four, Sharrkan, Pisti, Masrur and Yamuraiha could already be heard from the other side of the street. Spartos sat down next to Sharrkan who, judging by the amount of glasses already located on the bar, was going all out tonight.

“Spartos!” The man exclaimed the moment he saw him enter the building, “I already said to Pisti I was afraid you weren’t coming.”

“Did you get lost in the library again?” The younger girl, Pisti, grinned from Sharrkan’s other side.

Spartos shook his head. “I was helping someone out and forgot the time.”

“I thought you stopped being a tutor after you second year.” Yamuraiha mentioned as she looked at the redhead.

“I did, but it was a request from Hakuei.” Spartos smiled.

“I thought her family was all _‘extremely smart’_ ” Pisti said, throwing her hands in the air to give emphasis to her words, “what could you ever teach them?”

“She just wants me to help out her younger brother, but I doubt I’ll be much of a help to him.” Spartos sighed.

“You never know until you try. Perhaps destiny has something great in mind for you two.” Spartos looked up to see Yunan in front of him. “I guess you will take the usual  apple juice again?”

Spartos nodded at the man, immediately hearing Sharrkan groaning in return. “When are you going to get a real drink for once?” The dark-skinned man asked.

“Never.” Spartos simply replied as he took his glass cold apple juice.

“If he doesn’t want to drink, then you shouldn’t force him. Prevents a lot of trouble too.” Masrur, who had been silent before finally spoke up.

“Of course you would say that…” Sharrkan sighed as he ordered a new beer from Yunan, “You kick drunk people out of bars all the time.”

“I should almost start hiring you.” Yunan laughed softly.

“You never hire anyone or you would have gotten at least one waitress by now.” Sharrkan threw back at him, making Yunan only laugh more than he already did.

“No one would want to work for an old man like me.” The bartender laughed softly as he kept pouring more drinks. “Oh that’s right…” Yunan looked back at Spartos again, “Your brother’s death anniversary was this weekend, right?”

Spartos nodded. “It has been twelve years now.” Yunan had been one of the first to know about Mystras in Csetiphon. He had seen his brother from the first day Spartos set foot in the bar. Yunan called himself close to  death, although Spartos didn’t know what he meant by that. Whatever it meant though, the man had been able to spot any ghost from far away.

“Twelve years isn’t that long though.” Mystras said as he moved behind the bar and leaned on Yunan.

“Twelve years might not seem long to some people, but for anyone normal… it’s quite long.” Yunan sighed.

“Too long for me.” Sharrkan interrupted what seemed like Yunan’s stupid rambling to him, “I can’t wait until I can go home and show my brother I’m better than him.”

“You can do that in three years already. Or is your stupid face going to fail so much that you need a full twelve years for it?” Yamuraiha snapped at him. Spartos made the quick mental note that she shouldn’t get more to drink for the night. As if that had ever been a way to stop her from drinking.

“Says the one who chose to go to Csetiphon instead of Magnostadt only because the admission wasn’t as strict.” Sharrkan’s voice grew louder, almost yelling now.

“That is NOT the reason I came here! I already had an invitation to Magnostadt’s university! They were begging to get me. I just didn’t want to stay in that cursed city!” She yelled back. Spartos shook his head. There wasn’t a night where it wouldn’t end up like this. Sharrkan and Yamuraiha fighting about who knew what unimportant topic, Pisti laughing the background while Masrur and Spartos would try to stay out of it and enjoy their drinks.

Sharrkan, as good as anyone already, knew that bad grades weren’t the reason for Yamuraiha moving to Csetiphon. She never wanted to talk about it, but enough drinks made ‘not talking’ a questionable phrase. Enough times would the group have to listen to long stories about her adoptive father, usually accompanied by Sharrkan’s whining about how hard _his_ life had been. Spartos had learned not to interfere with it and spend those times of the night with Masrur, who stayed sober for most of the time. That was if he wasn’t out working. The days where Masrur wasn’t around were surely the hardest. Mystras would be joining in on the bickering between Sharrkan and Yamuraiha, not caring that only Spartos and Yunan could hear him and Pisti had to be stopped from stripping in the middle of the night. Perhaps it was good that _The Red Lion_ wasn’t too popular.

“So,” Spartos was dragged back from his thoughts to Yunan who was looking at him, “you’re helping one of the Rens out?”

“You know them?” Spartos asked, wondering if there was really anyone who Yunan didn’t know.

“They come by sometimes, not as much as they used to though.”

“I see. I guess I haven’t been living here long enough to know about all of them.” Spartos mumbled.

“They’re a mysterious family. Moved here around ten years ago. Family tragedy or something, they never want to talk about it.” Yunan sighed, eying the other people to make sure his bar would stay standing for the rest of the night.

“I never really felt like asking Hakuei about it. Hakuryuu seems a bit too closed for that anyways. I don’t think we have enough trust between each other for that.”

“It will come over time. Eventually the two of you will find things to bond over.” Yunan smiled.

**…**

Spartos had left the bar before it got too late. Masrur had already told him he’d take care of the others. Telling them for a hundred times that Tuesday wasn’t a free day wasn’t effective enough however. In one way Spartos didn’t care. It wasn’t his fault that his friends wanted to get drunk and as long as they stayed in _The Red Lion_ , he knew they were fine. Perhaps being worried captured his emotions better. He knew Yamuraiha was smart enough to not do anything stupid on a Monday night, but Sharrkan and Pisti were the ones he couldn’t trust. They could be just like his brother, caught in a fire they didn’t know they caused.

He knew it was all stupid worrying, especially by the amount of times Mystras told him that they would be fine. Being back home in his apartment was truly the best for him. He could do what he wanted here, without worrying about anything. It was truly a home.

As he lay down on the bed he grabbed his phone to see if Sharrkan had left any desperate messages to get him to go back to the bar. To his surprise there were none of those. Instead there was a single message, from Hakuryuu.

> Can we meet again tomorrow? Same time?

Spartos smiled softly as he typed the last reply for the night.

> Of course. See you then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My grammar check wanted to change Csetiphon to Ctesiphon so bad... glad I could change that before I posted it...
> 
> Anyways... Hakuryuu and Spartos met which means I can get into more serious stuff soon :D (idk what I'm doing tho)


	4. Chapter 4

The following morning started with a simple text from Sharrkan, whining about how drinking on Monday should officially be banned. Knowing that that would never happen, Spartos knew to read the text as ‘ _come earlier and stop us from drinking too much’_ or ‘ _don’t show up at all and don’t bear any responsibility of our actions_ ’. In some way Spartos enjoyed it. Sharrkan could break some of the boring, daily routine with his never-ending rambling and whining. Same to Pisti and Yamuraiha. Masrur could do so too, that was if he ever talked.

Even to this day, Spartos was surprised how he had gotten in touch with the group. It was all because of Sharrkan that the five knew each other to begin with. Sharrkan and Masrur had been childhood friends, still staying so after Sharrkan went to Csetiphon to study and Masrur got a job as a security guard. Pisti came into the picture when Sharrkan tried to apply for veterinary medicine, meeting Pisti on the first day of the application process. It still came back to him on certain nights out where Pisti would talk about everything she could do during her classes. Yamuraiha joined during one of Sharrkan’s projects for biology, the plan B when veterinary had disappeared from view, when Sharrkan had agreed on a more ‘scientific’ project. The blue haired genius from chemical engineering had been willing to help out with some research, although she wanted the best herb samples from the Heliohapt province in return. A rather good deal, Sharrkan still said. Compared to the others, Spartos felt like he had the most stupid way of joining the group.

It had started with a long day of studying and a longer night to come. More specifically, it had started with a cup of coffee, or actually… the coffee machine. Spartos had left his most comfortable spot of the library to get a refreshing drink when he had walked into the other man. Spartos had apologized, saying he could use the other machine a few steps away, but the man hadn’t let him. Spartos hadn’t seen him before, not caring too much either. He was only there to get his coffee. The man had talked to him, smiling as he let Spartos get his coffee, leaning against the machine as he talked. Spartos knew his face was bright red at that point and cursed the fact that bright green eyes were a weakness of his.

The man had been Sharrkan, who clearly enjoyed flirting with random strangers at coffee machines and Spartos was the one foolish enough to fall for it. Flirting at the coffee machine ended up in an exchange of numbers which then became Spartos’ first night in _the lion_. Mystras had been watching, highly entertained by his brother’s struggling love life. Then again, Spartos couldn’t say that much had happened between him and Sharrkan. It was obvious soon enough that Sharrkan would flirt with anyone. Because of that, Spartos was glad that he had met the others in that time, although Sharrkan would flirt with Yamuraiha more than enough times. It felt strange at first, being the only one who wasn’t studying on the science campus. No one minded however. Sure, Pisti had asked some deep questions about religion and sex, which Spartos usually brushed aside, and Yamuraiha had started a ‘religion against science’ argument more than once. It all didn’t matter. Two years later, he was still hanging out with them, closer than ever before. Sharrkan was still Sharrkan and Spartos couldn’t help but to still get lost in those green eyes.

He took a look at the alarm next to his bed. 7:30AM, still enough time to get ready for class. Another simple day.  He could use the morning for groceries and cleaning before he would need to attend a class of psychopathology. Then… studying with Hakuryuu. Maybe that guy would start throwing of his schedule in the end, but for now, it was something new. Something new had never hurt him before, although the additional problems weren’t always the best.

**…**

Studying with Hakuryuu became normal soon enough. The two would meet in the afternoon, when classes had ended for the both of them, and spent long days in the library. The boy wouldn’t talk much, which didn’t bother Spartos too much. Still every day, Spartos could find himself in silence. Mystras was gone most of the time, except for the random ‘you’re cute’ that Spartos could hear around. He had learned to ignore those, knowing that whatever Mystras was finding cute, wasn’t his business.

Mystras voice wasn’t around for long to begin with. Within the first twenty minutes, there was silence again. Nothing but silence, the sound of turning pages and pen writing and scratching on paper. A lot of scratching, erasing whatever had gone wrong earlier. The sound found its origin in front of him, where Hakuryuu was working. Pages filled with a long unused language lay spread out across the table.

“Is that Torran?” Spartos asked as he looked at the books in front of the boy.

Hakuryuu nodded, “I just can’t seem to get it right.”

“Let me see.” Spartos said as he moved over to sit next to Hakuryuu. The book still seemed to be in the early phase of the language, basic grammar if anything.

“You know Torran?” Hakuryuu asked.

“Religious family. My father would let us read the scriptures from the original language so I learned Torran when I was still a child.”

“I see.” Hakuryuu didn’t seem to go in on the rest of the topic, instead moving back to the book in front of him.

“What is it you don’t understand?”

“Most of the translating goes well, but I can’t seem to get the verb right.” The younger boy sighed, pointing at his notes. Words were crossed out here and there, small writing in the side correcting any mistakes.

Spartos took the notebook and looked over the mistakes. Surely it wasn’t that bad, most words and grammar translated correctly.

“I think I found what you’re doing wrong. If you look here,” he pointed at one of the words, “you got the stem of the verbs wrong. The word is _iptaras_ which is the prefect from _ipparas, building_. You seem to have translated  as the stative _paris, being old._ So of course you wouldn’t match up.”

“Now that you say it…” Hakuryuu looked at the words again, “that makes a lot more sense.”

“It changes to sentence from ‘the man was being old this five years ago’ instead of ‘the man built this five years ago.”

“Yeah…” Hakuryuu stayed silent a bit before he checked the rest of his mistakes.

“Did you learn the verbs yet?” Spartos asked, smiling softly.

Hakuryuu nodded his head, “I had my cousins teach me, but I stopped having them teach me, taking classes at my own school instead.”

“Kouen, right? I’ve had him for a lecture once.” At least Kouen was the only one of the Rens that Spartos knew held a big interest in the Torran culture, even teaching classes on its earliest religion to multiple theology students.

“Yeah, but his expectations are too high. Not even my own teachers understand what he tried to teach me.” Hakuryuu said, shaking his head.

“They clearly weren’t raised in Vabel then.” Spartos laughed softly.

“That part of the country? I don’t think anyone ever leaves there in the first place. It is filled with extremely religious and annoying people.”

“That hurts…” Spartos’ smile faded softly, although he knew the boy didn’t mean it that way. He was surprised Mystras wasn’t flying around his head yet, laughing so hard that he wouldn’t be able to hear the boy anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Hakuryuu apologized, scratching the back of his head, “I didn’t know you were from there, although I should have known with your religious background.”

“It’s fine.” Spartos assured him, “I haven’t lived there for almost four years, only coming home for some holidays. I have to keep some traditions alive as the oldest son.”

“I see. I’m sorry for bringing this all up.” Hakuryuu smiled softly at the man.

“It’s fine. My father and I may not be on best terms, but at least he allowed me to move out.” Spartos stayed silent before he focused on the Torran text again, “I can help you out with some Torran if you want.”

Hakuryuu nodded, “I’d like that.”

**…**

Studying ended much too late again. Spartos shook his head as he watched Hakuryuu leave the library first. Bless the long opening hours, even if they weren’t good for his own sake.

“Don’t tell me you are getting attached to that guy?” Mystras was back again, floating around his shoulders, watching Hakuryuu leave.

“He’s a good kid and I’m finally able to help him.” Spartos smiled as he grabbed his own stuff, “Why? Do you have anything against him?”

Mystras shrugged his shoulders, “Not really. If anything, he brings something interesting with him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't obvious yet, yes pretty much everyone is gay here.
> 
> Also, I had to download a book on basic Akkadian grammar to talk about Torran and I just copied some bits of a chapter about verbs. I have no idea how Akkadian works and I probably should have brought my book on Egyptian grammar with me instead -_-


	5. Chapter 5

“So?” Sharrkan made circles with his glass across the bar, “How is all that tutoring going?”

It was the last Friday of the month, the one day the group always decided to come together. Masrur was missing for the night, busy working. Pisti and Yamuraiha were already close to some of their last drinks, singing along in slur to songs that were repeated on the radio.

“It’s nice. Hakuryuu is a quiet kid, but he’s a good learner.” Spartos replied, drinking his glass of water down.

“I don’t know what you like about teaching all that much,” Sharrkan sighed, motioning to Yunan to refill his glass, “we’ll be having a student-for-a-day events soon and of course stupid me signed up to help people out.”

“You know who you’ll be accompanying yet?” Spartos raised an eyebrow. He vaguely remembered the notices asking for students to help out on that as well. However as a Master’s student, it no longer applied to him, unless the event for new Master students would come by again.

“Not yet.” Sharrkan answered, “We’re supposed to get a mail about it next week. I doubt anyone would be interested in studying biology though.”

“You get about 150 new students every year, so I’d say there are enough that want to.” Spartos said, trying to hide his smile.

Sharrkan sighed, “I guess…”

“You could still shove it off to someone else if you want.” Spartos said, laughing softly, “Knowing you, you could make tell them you have sudden business going on , perhaps someone else wants to step in.”

“Nah,” Sharrkan took a sip, swirling the drink in his hand, “guess I’ll live with my stupid decisions.”

“That’s new.” Spartos laughed.

“I live with the consequences of my actions more than enough times.” Sharrkan pouted.

“I hope you’re not only referring to the hangovers you get here.” Yunan spoke up, as he held a bottle of whiskey away from Sharrkan’s grabbing hands.

“I mean…” The dark-skinned man mumbled, “That too, but I know how to be an actual adult.”

“This is truly the first time I heard of that.” The idea of Sharrkan being actually responsible only seemed funny to Spartos. He knew however that that idea wasn’t too crazy. After all, Sharrkan did have enough of a sense of responsibility to not spend all of his family’s money on parties. If that counted as responsibility at all.

Responsibility was still far to find when Sharrkan passed out on the bar, joining Pisti and Yamuraiha who had passed out long before. Spartos, now alone in the bar stared down at his glass.

“Will you be bringing them home?” Yunan asked as he poked Sharrkan’s face. The sleeping man mumbled softly at the touch, but didn’t wake.

“Sharrkan’s home is close to mine, I can take him there on the way home. The other two…” He glanced over at the sleeping girls.

“Don’t worry.” Yunan smiled, “I’ll be closing the bar soon, I can bring them to their home.”

“I feel like I let you do this too many times.” Spartos laughed.

“Almost any time you guys don’t have Masrur with you to carry them.”

“I can’t exactly carry more than one person.”

“And the girls live together. It’s no big deal for me. Anything for my best customers.”

“You’re spoiling us.” Spartos laughed as he lifted Sharrkan from the bar. The man didn’t react, letting himself getting dragged to the door. Yunan waved them goodbye, waiting only a bit longer before he went out as well.

Sharrkan’s house was a few streets away from Spartos’ apartment. The house was shared with 5 others, none of them being much to Spartos’ interest. The house was easy to recognize, the bikes and broken beer bottles in front of the house making it impossible to miss. Spartos sighed as he lowered Sharrkan for a moment to find the keys to the house. He knew Sharrkan kept them in his jacket after having to bring him back multiple times. The door creaked open, accompanied by the sound of a stray bottle rolling across the floor. Spartos decided to pay it no mind. How Sharrkan could live in such a messy house, he didn’t know, nor did he get how no one would wake up from the door opening so loudly. He still blessed the fact that Sharrkan had a room on the first floor, making walking up the stairs unnecessary. If anything, he didn’t feel like explaining that Sharrkan was too drunk again to find his way home.

“You’re still not going to stay a night here?” The moment Spartos had placed Sharrkan on the bed, his brother came up.

“Not my kind of thing really.” It wasn’t just the fact of the house being a mess or this being Sharrkan’s home. Those were things he could find an excuse for, if Mystras gave enough encouragement. The worst thing had to be the terrarium placed in the corner of the room where multiple snakes roamed.  It wasn’t that he minded the creatures… if Sharrkan was awake. Whenever Sharrkan was around, the animals didn’t seem to do much. However, when Spartos entered the room while Sharrkan had passed out,  they seemed to be able to escape from their glass box. It was a stupid fear, Spartos knew. The snakes were unable to get out, but his brain told him otherwise.

“See?” Mystras sighed, as he hovered over to the snakes and looked at them, “This is exactly why he’s moving over to flirt with Yamu. You don’t make any moves!”

Spartos shook his head. “Not everyone is like you, screaming your feelings to the person you like as they stand on the other side of the street.”

“But that worked!” Mystras defended himself, huffing as he moved closer again. “I’m just trying to get you a nice person to share your life with. An older brother is allowed to tell his younger brother how to confess to his crush.”

“I can do this without your help.” Spartos laughed softly as he tucked Sharrkan in. The man shifted slightly under the covers but fell back to a deep sleep soon after. Spartos would lie if he said he didn’t enjoy watching the man sleep, but still the long evening took its toll on him too. After a long yawn, he left Sharrkan alone in the room, leaving the house to go back to his own apartment.

**…**

“Let’s stop here for today.” Spartos sighed as he shoved his chair away from the table. Papers with Torran writing were all spread out across the table, showing improvement in the language here and there. 

“It’s not that late yet…” Hakuryuu said after he had checked the time on his phone. It was only 4pm, at least an hour before they usually stopped studying.

“I know,” Spartos forced a smile, “I just have some things on my mind. I need to take care of those.”

“I see. Is it anything important?” Hakuryuu asked as he collected his papers from the table.

“Not really.” Spartos answered, “Just need to sort some things out that have been bothering me.”

“Take care then.” The boy said as he picked up the last papers and threw his bag on his back.

“Thank you.” Spartos smiled again. He watched the boy leaving the place before he too grabbed his stuff and left for home.

**…**

The door to the apartment fell shut with a soft thud. Spartos set down his bag before he focused on his brother who was standing in front of him.

“Mystras,” Spartos’ voice was strong, tired, “what are you trying to do?”

Mystras looked at him in surprise, “What do you mean? I’m not doing anything else than I usually do.”

“You don’t usually disappear when I go out studying, instead you hang around and act like you know what you’re doing. What are you trying to tell me that you can’t tell me straight into my face?”

“Nothing really.” Mystras shrugged, “At least not something you could do much with.”

“Are you afraid I’m going to date him? Hakuryuu?” Spartos raised an eyebrow, “You know he’s too young for me. Didn’t you try to set me up with Sharrkan again this weekend?”

“That boy doesn’t seem to be your type, but his brother is really cute.”

“His brother?” Spartos turned to Mystras, clearly confused, “He never told me anything about having brothers. Don’t you just mean his cousins?”

Mystras shook his head, “Brother, clearly. Nothing like those guys you used to hang out with.”

“And why would you know what his brother looks like?” Spartos’ lifted an eyebrow.

“Because he always joins us on the library trips.”

**…**

Home wasn’t a place Hakuryuu would say he knew. The moment he took a step in the building that the rest of his family called ‘home’ a sigh escaped his lips.

“I’m home.” He muttered.

“Welcome back! Dinner is done in twenty minutes.” He heard from the kitchen. Hakuei was cooking… that meant that he’d be eating take out with his cousins later this evening. Without saying another word, Hakuryuu walked up the stairs, passing the rooms of his cousins before he walked into his own. Good thing most of his cousins had moved out when they married, leaving those who were too lazy to move behind. Hakuryuu had never understood why Kouen or Koumei were still around, seeing that both of them had full time jobs. Perhaps that was exactly why… neither of them came home early and spent more time at their offices than at home.

He lay down on the bed, staring at the blank ceiling. Luckily his mother wasn’t home for once, a night out with her friends. Whatever his uncles was up to, Hakuryuu didn’t care. Even when the word had gotten out that man was deadly ill, he couldn’t remember showing a single emotion. He had never cared about the man who replaced his father, the man who his mother had run to immediately after his father’s death. He was truly a despicable man, along with all the cousins that had suddenly started to live in the same house. Hakuryuu didn’t know if anyone had expected him to accept it. He wasn’t like his sister, she hadn’t been there, she didn’t know…  But he knew. Everything he had never wanted to know, he knew. He hated it.

The ceiling was still as white as always, not a thing in the wrong place in the entire house.

“I hate it here.” He sighed, rolling over to lay on his side. The sight of his own room wasn’t any better than the ceiling, but at least it wasn’t as white and empty.

“ _I want to be gone already_.” A mimicking of his voice sounded from beside him. “You always say the same things, Ryuu.”

Hakuryuu rolled back to stare at the ceiling again. “Shut up, brother. You don’t know what it’s like.”

“Sure I don’t.” Laughter sounded softly, “It’s not like the exact situation killed me.”

A pillow flew around the room, landing against the opposite wall and falling down on the ground where multiple other things had been throw before.

“Stop talking about that.” Hakuryuu sighed, closing his eyes. Hakuei probably wouldn’t care if he didn’t show up for dinner. He wouldn’t be able to eat it anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original chapter I had was way too short for my liking (like 800 words) so I added the first part to it. It might not really belong to this part but it'll be important? later... idk we'll see haha. Anyways, the next chapter should be pretty important and I just really wanted to get to it so I can get the real story started.


End file.
